Storage systems



Dec. 1, 1959 P. F. CROSBY 2,915,195

STORAGE SYSTEMS Filed Dec. 25, 1955 s slets-sheet 1 Dec. l, 1959 P. F. cRosBY 2,915,195

STORAGE SYSTEMS Filed nec. 23, 1955 s sheets-sheet 2 P. F. cRosBY sjroRAGE SYSTEMS Dec. 1, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 23. 1955 SEQCS Patent-1 STORAGE. SYSTEMS Peter F.. Crosby,-'.Closter, NJ., assignor,b'y mesne assignments, to: Sedgwick Machine Works, Inc., New York, N tY., acorporation of New York Application December 23; '1955,'Serial No'. 555,100

Thiszinvention relatesto' a storage system and hasfor itsobject -to provide a syst'ernof Aapparatus providing'the largestpossible'amount of readily 'accessible space in a given area for the storage'of tiles, supplies and the' like'.

The systemv of'apparatus which I haveinvented comprises v a"row of transverse shelvingv racks nearly filling the available volume but providing an open aisle for access to the sides of the racks. The invention provides for changing the position of this aisle so that it may provide access to the adjacent sides of any pair of racks. This is accomplished by making the sides of all the shelvingerack's open and providing for lateral displacement of all .the racks except those at the two ends.

p An important feature of the invention consists in means for mounting a shelving rack so that when fully loaded it is kvery easily displaceable laterally through the exertion ofmanual force. For instance, I have found that, in a storage system constructed according to my invention, a shelvingrackfbearing a load of twelvehundred pounds can bey moved laterally to a new position through the application of a force which-'need not exceed twelve pounds. To accomplish this economically is a matter of`consi'derable difficulty since' the concrete floors provided in most oiiice buildings contain irregularities or waves, so that it is diicult to move a heavy object mounted on small wheels over such floors or along rails laid directly upon them. This dii'iiculty is overcome in accordance with the present invention by providing rails which consist of strips of spring steel laid in channels of soft steel laid over a crushable material such as a sheet of plywood made from soft Wood. I have discovered that rails so constructed provide a smooth level rolling surface for wheels, even when laid on a iioor having an irregular surface.

A further feature of the invention consists in a simple and economical means for securing small ball-bearing wheels to shelving racks of ordinary construction. This and other features of the invention are hereinafter described in detail.

The accompanying drawings show a storage system embodying the Various features of my invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the complete system showing the aisle positioned between one of the end racks and the first rolling rack;

Fig. 2 is a partial side view of the system of racks shown in Fig. 1 showing two of the rolling racks sectioned on a central vertical plane and the rail and floor sectioned on the same plane;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side View of the lower part of one of the rolling racks showing the rack and the rail and oor sectioned on a vertical plane passing through the axis of two of the wheels on the rack;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the lower part of one of the rolling racks showing the track and the floor beneath it sectioned on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the track with the racks removed;

2 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section of the track orif'thb`lirer 6 6 ofFig: 5;l

Fig.' 7 is a"vie'w"of`one*of -the wheelsand associated* parts vsectioned on' thefaxis"of"fthe wheel: andishowing the'j elect of a slight Ltiltingof thewheel 'axle'jVv Fig. 8 is Ia similar viewl ofv one'of the wheels and'ass'oi-f ciated parts showingta Amodified formy oftrackgandf Fig. 9 is an exploded-"viewofapair of'the wheels andl their mounting; A

The volume in' which 'thililing'i's' to be' '-done is f ndilf' cated by the rectangular space deinedfby the outercsurzfaces ofthe outer racks sh'own-y in Fig-'1.y Thi's'volume may consist of ani alcvefop'en at the front, onmayfbefconfined in' thel presenceofur'niture 'or=oth`erv articlesff:

At each end of the available volume'is a xedshelving." rack 1l lwhich'con'tain'sfthe us'ualfshelve's 12v andf-iszop'en numberfof f rolling* shelving;y racks! 13, Y 14,15, leach'oir which isitwi'c'e the width, offene of the endiracksandl" is vprovided with fa"centfralflvertical partition or Walla 16" and with shelves 17 whichiareopen-"and accessible. att both sides of the rack'.

Each of' theV vrolling' shelving racks? is provided 'withz four small. wheels.: Tlie` racks.; arev of usual construction't with metal anglefpiecesl :1S at their 'corners which 'pro-11 ject below' theirlovverl shelves toi provide: short vlegs v19.

The wheels 23 have at'hard .metal tires 24 and.v carry@ Y 21v are passed through, holes 22 in the legs19 of the rack' and then through thev sleeves 28', and nuts 29 securedA upon their ends. This involves no alteration. in qth'e" standard shelving rack other than borinfgithe'holes'ZZ for these screws." i i It will be seen that the apparatus described provides a very simple and convenient means forassembling the Wheels with the shelving racks. Its only disadvantage is that the axle is supported at only one side of the wheel, a slight tilting of the wheels may occur after they have been subjected to heavy loads over an extended period of time. Compensation for such tipping is made as hereinafter described.

The laying of tracks for the wheels 23 on a concrete floor is accomplished as follows: First the area of the floor between the inner faces of the end cabinets 11 is covered with a piece of plywood 30. The plywood may consist of two or more layers of soft wood suitably connected together. If the concrete iioor 31 is reasonably smooth, the plywood 30 is laid directly upon it. If the oor contains distinct hollows, the worst of these are filled with shims 32, or with other fillers such as cement or mastic, before the plywood is laid (see Fig. 4).

Over the outer edges of the plywood 30 are laid two soft metal strips 33, each of which has a shallow channel 34- and a bevel 35 along the outer edge of the channel. The strips 33 are held in position by screws 36 passing through their beveled portions and by a spacing piece 37 of hard wood covering the area between them and en` gaging their inner edges. A piece of linoleum or other oor covering 38 may be placed on this spacing piece 37 and should have its upper surface level with the upper edge of the channels.

To provide a bearing surface for the rails, strips of hard spring steel 39 are laid in the channels 34 of the strips 33. The ends of the strips are fastened in open clips 40 (Figs. 5 and 6) which permit lengthwise movement to allow for lengthening ofthe strips 39 under pressure.

y A layer 41 of hard board or plywood is placed on the oor at the ends of the tracks to support the stationary racks 11 at the same level as the intermediate racks 13,

14 and `15.

After the rails have been installed as above described, one `of the rolling shelving racks is heavily loaded and then rolled several times along the full length of the rails between the end racks. The effect of this is to push down any high spots existing in the rails as the result of irregularities of the floor. At such a high spot. shown at 42 in Fig. 4, the plywood 30 is reduced in thickness by crushing while the soft metal strips 33 yield sufficiently to remain in contact with the crushed portions of the plywood.

After this operation, the track surface provided by the spring steel strips 39 is perfectly flat and the loaded shelving racks may be rolled sideways on the rail with the exertion of a very slight force.

Another advantage gained by the crushability of the plywood occurs when the wheels 23 are slightly tilted as shown in Fig. 7 in this case, crushing of the plywood permits a slight tilting of the bottom of the soft metal channels 34 so that the hard metal strip 39 is positioned to contact fully with the wheels.

While the channel strips 33 as shown ordinarily yield suiciently to permit the smoothing of the tracks, they may be made slightly more yieldable by making them in two parts as shown in Fig. 8. Here, one strip 33a forms the inner edge and bottom of the channel, while a separate strip 33b provides the bevel 35.

In using the storage system, the loaded movable shelving racks 13, 14 and 15 can very easily be moved singly or together along the rails, and it is thus a simple matter to place the open aisle vshown opposite one of the end racks 11 in Fig. 1 between any two of the shelving racks so as to provide easy access to any two of the sets of storage shelves.

What I claim is:

1. A storage system comprising a row of shelving racks including two narrow fixed shelving racks open at their inner sides and located opposite each other at the ends of the row, a series of ycentrally partitioned wider shelving racks each open at each side mounted upon legs for lateral movement between the xed racks and partially filling the space between them so as to leave an open aisle, and apparatus for facilitating lateral movement of the intermediate shelving racks between the fixed end racks comprising small hard wheels secured at the lower ends of the legs of each intermediate rack and rails for said wheels including a crushable layer, a bendable channel on the crushable layer, and a hardened exible steel contact piece in the channel.

2. In a storage system having a row of shelving racks including fixed end racks and movable intermediate racks,

apparatus for facilitating the movement of said interme-V diate shelving racks between the fixed end racks comprising a crushable plywood layer covering the floor between the end racks, flat soft metal channels secured to References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Switzerland J une 30, 

